


Feline Heart

by tinydaydream



Category: Hyperdimension Neptunia
Genre: Catboys & Catgirls, F/F, Fluff, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 23:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13581243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinydaydream/pseuds/tinydaydream
Summary: Due to an accident, Noire seems to have sprouted a few additional appendages. Worrying about being teased and her Lastation subjects losing faith in her, she wonders what Neptune will do if she ever finds out.





	1. A Fuzzy Problem

“N-Noire, I’m afraid that I’m just as in the dark as you are as to what happened!” Histoire says after letting out a sigh, looking helpless at how panicked the usually composed Lastation CPU is. “I-Is it possible for you to start at the beginning, perhaps? Tell me when it happened? What you were doing?”

The black-haired CPU shuts up, immediately feeling embarrassed at how she must’ve looked, rushing all the way across Planeptune while trying not to be seen, barging into Histoire’s room… and then to yell at one of the few people she knew in Gamindustri who were actually _sane_ … She coughs, trying to will away the redness from her cheeks, and slowly tries to organize her thoughts.

But seriously, cat ears? And a tail?

Strange things happened in this weird dimension of theirs, sure, but that just seemed a bit excessive.

And why her? She figured if anyone, Neptune should’ve gotten stuck with them. Hell, she probably would’ve been able to just laugh it off, showing it off to everyone else with that half-innocent smirk of hers.

She sighs, hoping at least that Neptune didn’t notice something odd about her when she’d rudely pushed her aside and tried not to let her see anything. Her feelings on that annoyingly cheerful purple blob were… confusing, and she definitely didn’t want to deal with this right now. Oh well. Knowing her, she’d probably write it off as “Noire being tsundere again.”

“U-Uhm, Noire? Did you hear what I said?”

“Ah! I’m sorry, Histoire! I-I’ve been a bit distractible ever since I... noticed, I-I’ll do my best to remember if you think it’s possible to help me figure out how we can fix this,” Noire’s voice almost desperate for a sign from the oracle that she’ll be able to get rid of her ears and tail.

Histoire nods at her, motioning for her to continue.

The CPU closes her eyes, trying to remember. “I… noticed just this afternoon, maybe an hour before I came over here to figure out what’s going on. I-It’s possible things were different for a while before, but I must not’ve noticed while working on Lastation projects establishing semi-permanent links between friendly dimensions. It was only a few minutes before my tea break that Uni walked in and…” she trails off, clearly not wanting to explain how embarrassed she’d been about that whole situation.

The oracle nods at her, secretly glad that everyone knows at this point how much into cosplay Noire is, so chances of anyone seeing it as something more serious than that were basically zero. Uni probably just assumed Noire had somehow forgotten to get dressed properly again before heading back to work.

“I… am reasonably sure I looked in the mirror at least once before starting work today, so something must’ve happened during? Or at least, the effects of whatever the hell is going on decided to show up around then.”

Histoire frowns, not seeing anything particularly unusual in her story so far. The dimensional links have her curious, but she’s unsure whether asking about it would be considered a sneaky way to figure out how to get that technology for Planeptune instead. Shrugging mentally, she figures it’s worth asking, at least.

“Forgive me if this is classified information, but in light of the situation…,” she sighs, “I feel like I have to ask. These dimensional links in Lastation, how do they work? I don’t see how it could be related, but it’s the only thing that’s different so far today, am I correct?”

Noire immediately lights up at the chance to brag about her nation’s technology, knowing full well that they were working on tech far more advanced than anyone else in Gamindustri. “Some of our scientists got that oversized Neptune and her weird bug book to cooperate in figuring out how to link dimensions together, and their research showed that particular types of high energy radiation could split and link parts of one dimension to another. We’ve been trying to replicate this with some success now.” she smirks, knowing that all it had taken was the promise of the biggest cup of pudding that girl had ever seen.

Her momentarily happy mood disappears immediately as she notices Histoire staring at her with a scared look on her face. Unconsciously, she flattens her ears. It takes a few seconds for Noire to realize how her body had responded, and she blushes while staring at the floor, aware of how easily those new appendages now give her moods away.

“We’re doing everything as safely as possible! The workers know to avoid exposing anything to the radiation until I’ve confirmed it works without problems. There’s a bit of risk, true, but I think if we can eventually have more stable relationships with groups in other dimensions before they cause a mess here again… at any rate, I’m happy to say that I’ve had enough success to be able to look around for small amounts of time, so we’re slowly getting there!”

“N-Noire, how much were _you_ exposed to, exactly?”

The CPU awkwardly looks down at her tail.


	2. Never Hide from a Nep

“What do you mean, ‘CPU physical data can get scrambled in a similar way!?’”

The purple-haired CPU blinks. Her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her and she leaned her ear against the door, trying very hard to figure out what had that tsundere girl all panicked today. She couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was hearing, however. Something about radiation messing with the data on their bodies, with changes happening based on other data that was already there… that all sounded far too businessy to get properly worked up over.

She sighs as she pulls herself away from the door. She’d really hoped that it had been something worth teasing Noire over later, or maybe she was even a little worried, not that she would ever admit that. Neptune never meant to make Noire angry, but the reactions she could get out of her were just so satisfying, in a weird way.

All she could get from listening at the door was that both the oracle and a certain tsundere seemed incredibly flustered, and Noire was clearly in denial about something. Nothing new there, really.

Lost in thought, she yelps in surprise as the door suddenly opens, a very flustered Black Heart practically glaring at her.

Neptune gulps. “Ah, u-uhm, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. Honest! ...and it’s not like I had any idea what the two of you were talking about anyway!”

Noire just lets out an annoyed sigh, clearly not in the mood to deal with her right now. Normally, she might’ve enjoyed how awkward Neptune was feeling, maybe even try to tease her a bit. But today? She intensifies her glare, watching Neptune shrink away in front of her, as she tries to determine whether her best friend is telling the truth.

She’s glad that Neptune is a terrible liar.

Not to mention, if she really _had_ heard anything about… her condition, she was incredibly sure Neptune wouldn’t be able to hide it. Whether it would be glee or amusement or shock, Noire didn’t know.

“H-hey, wait a minute! I just want to know wha-…,” Neptune starts, but the transformed CPU had already walked outside and flown off.

The purple CPU could only stare at the sky, wondering what was going on with that awkward friend of hers.

* * *

“Seriously, Lonely Heart. You need to take breaks more. I get that you have no friends, but you should at least eat pudding with me!” Neptune sighs, having just gotten shoved out of Noire’s office again for interrupting her for the third time this week. As much as she hates to admit it, she is actually getting worried about how her best friend is acting. Noire wouldn’t usually take a lot of breaks, true, but she’d usually let Neptune drag her somewhere fun while vaguely pretending to be bothered.

Ever since she’d stormed into her Basilicom two weeks ago, she hadn’t even once let Neptune stay for more than twenty seconds before announcing she _really_ had to get back to work again, and that Neptune better not bother her again today.

“And what’s with you transforming every time the door so much as creaks open anyway!?”

No answer.

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous.” Neptune opens the door again, ignoring the look Black Heart was giving her. “I know you’d rather sit here and be lonely, but you need a Nep and pudding.”

The transformed CPU just closes her eyes wearily, her lips pressing into a thin line.

Neptune continues, “I’m not going to budge on this. If you insist on staying transformed, or try to kick me out again, I’ll transform too and stay here until you take a break. Admit you need your best friend, Noire!”

After what had to be one of the tenser minutes of her life—Neptune really hopes she hadn’t crossed some sort of line here—Black Heart finally sighs. “Fine. Just… give me a moment while I put on some different clothes. I promise I’ll meet you outside my office in a minute, okay?”

The purple-haired girl nods, glad she finally gave in. “Okay. I trust you. You better not break my innocent little heart here, Noire. I would never be able to believe in love again if you did.”

Noire just rolls her eyes and smiles slightly, making her way over to her personal room.


	3. Out of the Bag

As much as she usually tries to avoid deep thinking, the purple-haired girl finds herself lost in thought. Noire had actually shown up after taking just a little too long to get ready, and they were now on the way to Neptune’s favorite café in Lastation. Normally, her thoughts would be all on what flavor of pudding she’d be going for, or even whether to try some pastries or chocolates - in addition to the pudding, of course.

But today is different. She can’t help it. Noire just looks so… odd.

Neptune knows she isn’t exactly an expert on fashion, but there is definitely something weird about the outfit Noire had chosen to wear. Some kind of striped beret, though cute and feminine, really looked strange on her, as if it just doesn’t quite fit. And then there’s the black dress. Again, she supposes it’s cute enough. But it seems strangely bulky and long, and Neptune knows the tsundere isn’t usually afraid of showing a little bit of skin.

And… she feels like she might be imagining it, but Noire definitely looks a lot more uncomfortable than usual. Even by the workaholic’s standards, she’s sure Noire got used to Neptune dragging her around enough that she shouldn’t act this awkward. But here she is, constantly fidgeting and looking around, seemingly worried about whether anyone will notice her. Something is definitely off.

Maybe she’s just worried her population would think she isn’t taking her job seriously enough? Maybe she’s even ashamed to be seen out with her, if people are aware how, ah, seriously Neptune takes her breaks. Or maybe it’s that weird project she discussed with Histoire, and things weren’t going according to plan.

Finally having enough of the awkward silence, and remembering that the walk will still take a while longer, Neptune coughs.

“Hey, uhm… Noire? You’ve been unusually quiet lately. Quieter, at least. Did something go wrong with that weird project I totally didn’t hear anything about two weeks ago?” the Planeptune CPU asks quietly. Noire flinches, making her wonder if she’s right on the money about the project. Smiling slightly, she continues, “Plus, your outfit is all different. Are you having some sort of mid-life crisis? Trying to attract friends by pretending to be someone totally different?”

Bristling at that, Noire turns to her, her cheeks red, “W-What!? Don’t be stupid, I can wear something different sometimes. You should try it sometime, instead of wearing the same two outfits for years at a time…” She can’t help but smirk a little bit. “But… you being your usual rude and stupid self aside, I guess I probably needed to get away from all that work. Maybe I _have_ been pushing it a little too hard lately.”

Smiling at that, the purple-haired girl responds, “Aww, look at you getting all self-aware all of a sudden, I guess you had to compensa-…oh hey, we’re there already! That was a lot faster than I thought it would be. Puuuudding tiiiiiiime!”

She inelegantly flomps down on her favorite chair in her favorite corner, and Noire turns around to grab a chair from under another table. As far as Neptune is concerned, nothing could ever come close to eating pudding outside in the sun. Humming a little bit to herself, she pretends to be patient as Noire places their orders. Noire always makes sure to be the one in charge at restaurants, as letting Neptune have free reign generally results in a lot more pudding, pastries, and chocolate than they bargained for.

It’s while Noire has her back turned, describing to the waiter the kind of excessive pudding her close friend wants, when Neptune suddenly notices.

Is that some kind of black fur peaking out from under the back of her long dress? Strange, it’s rather unlike Noire to wear clothes in anything other than pristine condition. And as far as she knows, Noire’s clothes have no fur anywhere to begin with.

Not that she knows exactly what Noire looks like in all her different outfits, of course!

But… that definitely had to be some kind of…

“Holy Nep!” she exclaims, then immediately clasps a hand over her mouth, as both Noire and the waiter give her annoyed stares before turning back again to the overcomplicated pudding order.

“Sorry about her, she can be a little… easily overexcited,” Noire mutters to the waiter, who nods knowingly.

Yes, that is definitely a tail.

Well, she supposes that explains the outfit. If Noire was for some reason going somewhere elseto do some embarrassing cosplay, she could understand not wanting all of her citizens to see that. Smirking, she decides to at least tease Noire about it later. She doesn’t mind in the slightest if that’s the kind of cosplay her best friend wants to do, but it sure is a wonderful way to get her favorite tsundere all blushing and worked up. After she gets over the embarrassment, Noire may even be glad that at least she caught it before someone else noticed.

Grinning as her giant rainbow-colored pudding arrives, Neptune notices it tastes all the sweeter today. Must be something about the weather.

* * *

“I have to admit, Neptune, that was a pretty decent pudding. I wasn’t expecting what you described to actually taste good.” Noire smiles softly, a lot happier and more relaxed than before. They’d both decided to go for a walk afterwards, but quickly find themselves sitting down on a nearby bench, too full of food to really want to move. The park is strangely quiet for a sunny day like this, but she supposes it’s still the early afternoon on a regular weekday.

At least it lets her relax for a moment. All the stress of the past couple weeks was really wearing her down, and she’s glad to finally get a moment to just take in the nice weather and enjoy the soft breeze.

Noire blushes a bit as she remembers Neptune sharing half of her giant pudding with her, the purple idiot clearly not aware of how embarrassing sharing food like that was. Though she guesses she can’t complain, given how tasty it was.

“…Hey, Noooooooooiiiiiiiire?” Neptune suddenly starts, grinning far too widely.

Uh oh.

“I was just woooooooondering~”

This can’t possibly be good.

Had she noticed something? The Lastation CPU is pretty sure she did a good job hiding the embarrassing problems, but she can’t exactly look down and behind herself to check. That’d give away something is up even if Neptune hadn’t noticed anything after all.

The purple-haired girl giggles, already noticing Noire feeling awkward. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. I was just curious…” A small pause for dramatic effect. “…how long have you been doing cute animal cosplays?”

She smirks at the shock in her eyes, then embarrassment, then… something else she can’t quite place. Relief? That can’t be right.

After what seems like an eternity, Noire finally answers, “A-Ah, yeah, cosplay! Right. Embarrassing. W-Wouldn’t want anyone to see me cosplaying embarrassing things, of course! Uhm, could you not say anything about this to anyone else, N-Neptune?”

Neptune frowns. Well, that was a letdown. She’d really hoped for a more significant reaction. Teasing Noire is no fun if she’s going to just take it in stride.Wondering whether she can push her just a little bit more, she scoots herself closer to Noire, sneaking her hand down to the edge of her long dress.

“W-What do you think you’re-…” Noire begins, when suddenly her friend swoops down and pulls hard at the tiny end of her tail sticking out from under her dress, trying her best to steal an embarrassing cosplay prop.

Unfortunately, it’s too stuck to whatever outfit Noire’s wearing under that dress, and Neptune awkwardly falls over, yelping as her bottom hits the grass.

What she didn’t expect was the extremely loud shriek her raven-haired friend lets out at her pull. “What the _hell_ do you think you’re doing!?” Noire yells at her as she jumps up, her face bright red and actual tears in her eyes. Awkwardly rubbing her behind, she stumbles back onto the bench. The angry CPU quickly looks around, blushing even harder, but thankfully there doesn’t seem to be anyone else nearby.

“I-I’m really sorry Noire! I expected it to just come loose, and-” Neptune suddenly gasps. Noire’s beret had fallen off, and in addition to her usual twin tails, there were a pair of very realistic-looking cat ears twitching angrily on her head. Her tail had also almost entirely come out from under her dress, and was now standing almost straight up.

Neptune isn’t sure what’s going on here, but those clearly are no cosplay props.

For some reason, her easily-embarrassed best friend had grown an actual tail and cat ears.


	4. Prepare for Trouble

The Planeptune oracle sighs to herself as she stares out the Basilicom window. She hadn’t gotten a call from Noire for weeks. Usually, she and the black-haired CPU would chat for a couple minutes every few days—she to get away from the chaotic purple sisters for a while, and the CPU because she was obviously lonely in Lastation. Talking to a normal person—by CPU standards, anyway—once in a while made it a lot easier to deal with Planeptune the rest of the time, and now that Noire had been hiding for some time, she finds herself increasingly annoyed at Neptune’s antics.

“Histy!” she suddenly hears the yelp of the carefree CPU, and she blinks as Neptune storms into her room. Clearly out of breath from running all the way from who-knows-where, the girl finally manages to say, “I gotta talk to you! I messed up with Noire and-”

The oracle hurriedly closes the door behind her. If this is what she thinks it’s about, the last thing they need is everyone in the Basilicom hearing. Neptune could be so thoughtless when it comes to sensitive matters. Histoire’s sure normal people would realize that in a situation like this it’s best to keep things quiet, but then again she suspects Neptune’s current panic is probably the result from earlier thoughtlessness as well.

Sometimes she really wishes they had a second oracle. She wonders if it would be possible for her to get a sister of her own to help out somehow.

She motions for Neptune to sit down. “Okay. I think I already know where this is going, so you’d better sit down and try to relax before telling me about it.”

Neptune takes a deep breath. “Right. Thanks Histy, I probably shouldn’t have yelled as loudly either, sorry.”

Histoire frowns at her. “Am I right to assume that you messed up and found out about the incident, then? Did you make Noire angry again?”

“W-What!? No! I mean… not exactly?” Neptune hides her face as the oracle’s frown deepens. “I may have… assumed that what’s going on with her was simply cosplay?”

The fairy seems confused at that. “I don’t see how that’s bad? Though you clearly figured out that it was something more serious, so how…” Her face reddens as she suddenly realizes.

She’s known Neptune for far too long, and what she’s thinking of is exactly the kind of thing someone like her would do. The CPU has practically no sense of personal space, and is extremely likely to playfully poke people for no reason. Of _course_ Neptune would be the kind of person to just give something a good pull without thinking about the consequences. Histoire cringes, not quite sure whether she hopes it was the tail or the ears. It was probably the tail. Neither sound like it would’ve been particularly fun for the awkward Lastation CPU.

“Neptune…”

“I-I didn’t think, okay! I know what I did was stupid, but,” Neptune’s voice takes on an almost desperate quality, “you think there’s something to make her less mad? I’ve… never seen her so flustered. And not in the way I like.” Almost begging as she looks up at the oracle, “There must be something I can do to make it up to her!”

Though she still feels angry, Histoire tries her hardest to hide a small smile. She’s long suspected the careless girl has feelings for the Lastation CPU beyond simple friendship, but she’s not sure Neptune herself is even aware of those. She’s not sure whether the feeling’s mutual either, but Noire definitely gets flustered around the purple-haired lazybones easily enough.

Though at this rate it doesn’t seem like much will ever come of that if she doesn’t help her patch things up first.

At the same time, she doesn’t exactly want to let Neptune off easily. That idiot really could stand to deal with the consequences of her actions a bit more often. Besides, she’s confident that if the girl really puts her mind to it, she’d be able to think of something to make Noire less angry. Neptune knows the tsundere better than she does, honestly. All the CPU probably needs is a bit of a push to get going and figure this out for herself.

Neptune looks away, embarrassed. “Please, Histy? I really want to make it up to her, but… I don’t know how. I mean I always think of food, but that’s probably not gonna work here, and then I thought of some kind of cat collar thing, but-” she stops rambling as the oracle groans loudly.

“Don’t. That’s a terrible idea, Neptune. She knows you, and would just assume you’re trying to rub it in and tease her even more. Do you ever think about these things before you act?” Histoire looks stern again. “A gift can be good, but it has to be something that really shows you want to make it up to her, not just something you’d pick up for anyone.” She gives Neptune another hard look. “And no pet store gifts, got that? If I hear anything about you giving her something like that…”

Neptune gulps.

“Now shoo! You can be smart when you’re not being a total lazybones, so go and fix this with her instead of feeling sorry about what you did. And I better not hear anything about you making it worse somehow.” The oracle looks at her sternly, then softens into a small smile. “You’re not a bad person, Neptune. I know you can fix this.”

The Planeptune CPU blushes and nods, then runs off again.

“Hopefully.”

* * *

Standing in front of the Lastation Basilicom, the purple-haired CPU _really_ isn’t sure this isn’t going to backfire on her spectacularly. At least if Noire stays mad at her, she’ll be able to make fun of Neptune as well. It wouldn’t quite be the same thing, but either way it’s a start.

The Basilicom guards had simply given her pitiful looks when letting her in; they didn’t particularly want to get caught in between the mess caused by two CPUs, but they seemed to know enough to be confident that nothing good would come of her visit. Neptune can’t quite get herself to open the door leading to her best friend’s office. Will Noire even listen to her? Or will she just shove her out again, not even giving her the chance to make it up to her? She supposes she can’t exactly blame her after what happened in the park.

The careless and carefree Neptune, getting cold feet? Unthinkable.

She looks at the Team Rocket outfit under her hoodie and the one stuffed in her bag, and gulps as she opens the door. Here goes nothing.

* * *

“…N-Neptune?” Her eyes redder than usual, it’s obvious she’s been crying. Noire sits at her desk in her usual attire, her ears and tail exposed. She probably figured there was no point in hiding it from Neptune at this point. The girl lets out a bitter laugh. “Are you here to rub it in?” She looks down at the papers on her desk, hoping Neptune will just leave if she doesn’t give her any extra ammunition to tease her with.

Neptune had decided to do her best to act confident, but that attempt shatters at how Noire looks at her. She can’t help but stand frozen, speechless. She’s never seen Noire this upset with her before. Flustered, of course, that happened all the time. Angry too, whenever she pushes her just a little too far, not exactly uncommon either. But crying? Internally kicking herself, she slowly takes a step closer, trying her best not to spook the poor girl even more.

“I’d really rather you just leave, Neptune…” the tsundere lets out weakly. “I’m… really busy, so… We can talk some other time.”

Neptune feels her heart beating unsteadily. It hurts to see her like this, and she’s more worried about ruining this than she’s ever been worried about anything. The weird flutters in her stomach don’t help, but that’s just the idea of what she’s about to do, right? She can’t leave now, or she’ll never have the chance to make things better. A Nep never gives up.

“No.”

Noire lifts her head slightly and flattens her ears, glaring. “Why?”

“Because I need to tell you something,” the purple-haired girl replies.

She continues, “I didn’t mean to hurt you, and I screwed up, and I’m sorry.” She pauses. It’s so unlike her to genuinely apologize instead of making a joke out of it, but she knows she can’t afford to mess this up. It’s for Noire, after all. “I shouldn’t have teased you about something like that, no matter why it was, really. Even if it was just cosplay.” Noire goes red at that and seems about to interrupt her, but she quickly stops her, “let me continue, please. Noire?”

The red-eyed girl nods weakly.

“And… I realized none of my usual things would make it up to you. I thought of all sorts of fancy gifts, but,” she feels her own cheeks redden slightly as she continues, “none of them were good enough. So I thought of the only thing I could do with you to hopefully make you feel better, even if just a little bit. Something I know you wanted to do for a while because I always teased you about it. S-So, uhm…”

She pointedly looks away from Noire now, her cheeks definitely bright red at this point. She’s gotta give it to Noire, it takes some real confidence to do the amount of cosplay she does. No wonder her best friend was mortified when that creepy robot let everybody know.

Noire looks up somewhat curiously. She’s never seen Neptune acting this awkward. She’s pretty sure she’s not seen her blush either, or at least not this deeply. As much as she wants to be mad at her, she actually smiles a little at that. It’s good to know that that purple-haired idiot can feel awkward too, instead of just shrugging everything off.

“A-Ah, uhm…” Finally working up the courage to show Noire, she zips down her hoodie. Noire briefly lifts an eyebrow, her mind going in a completely different direction at first, not sure how she’s supposed to respond to this.

It’s then that she notices the loose white shirt under Neptune’s hoodie, the letter ‘R’ bright red in the middle; that Neptune had been trying to hide long black gloves partially covered by her hoodie, and finally the extra outfit in her bag as she opens it and shyly sets it on her desk.

She can’t help it, a big grin slowly forms on her face. Neptune, and Team Rocket cosplay? With her? The world had definitely gone mad. I-It’s not like she’s always dreamed about doing cosplay with Neptune or anything! She knows how embarrassed the girl must’ve felt doing something like that. Not the same as what she’s dealing with, of course, but she sure is making it hard to stay mad at her like this.

Slowly, she gets up from her office chair, grinning even wider as she steps closer to Neptune and notices the almost terrified look on her face. She has to admit she really enjoys seeing Neptune being this awkward for once. “Prepare for trouble?”

Neptune gulps. “M-Make it double.”

Feeling more in her element now, Noire continues, slightly more enthusiastically this time, “To protect the world from devastation!”

The Planeptune CPU finally looks up at her, noticing she’s far too close all of a sudden. But something in Noire’s eyes makes her grow more confident. “To unite all peoples within our nation!”

“To denounce the evils of truth and love!” Noire takes one step closer to her.

“To extend our reach to the stars above!” She awkwardly takes a small step forward as well.

“Jessie!”

“James!”

“Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!”

Noire takes one last step, the both of them blushing bright red and grinning at each other.

“Surrender now, or prepare to f-fight!” Neptune ends.

She has no idea what she’s doing. Why they’re both far too close. Why Noire’s swishing tail is distracting her so much. How she even ended up like this when she really just wanted to make things up to her best friend.

Not being able to stand the butterflies in her stomach any longer, she shyly presses her lips against Noire’s.

A few warm seconds later, she moves her head back, and Noire meows loudly.

Neptune can’t help but grin. “That’s right!”


	5. Animal Psychology

Noire clasps a hand to her mouth, her cheeks bright red. She… definitely didn’t mean to make a noise like that. Neptune shamelessly grinning at her makes her if anything feel even more awkward. That girl had actually kissed her! Sure, it’s something she’s thought about more than she cares to admit, but to actually have it happen all of a sudden, and in a situation like this…

Her lips did feel quite nice, though…

The intensity of Noire’s blush only increases as she remembers the details of that kiss just seconds ago. She doesn’t notice that Neptune is staring at her with a slightly insecure smile, wondering when she’d come back to earth.

It doesn’t help that Noire finds her new instincts incredibly confusing. The whole situation is rather strange, but she’s sure that in the past she would’ve had far more trouble with her feelings, or at least reacted differently. There’s still the urge to deny everything and get mad—the reason Neptune always accused her of being a stereotypical tsundere—yet this time it’s far more muted.

Instead, the urge is far stronger to be all over Neptune, to pin her down and keep kissing her for the next couple months or so, to do… so many things. Urges that feel a lot more assertive than usual. It takes a lot out of her to pretend to stand calmly in front of her crush, the excited swishing of her tail being only indicator of what’s going on.

It’s not the first time that she wonders what else these catlike changes could be responsible for.

Neptune’s just so _cute_.

Noire had always thought of Neptune as her best friend, no matter the teasing and the worry that Neptune managed without her a lot better than the other way around. She doesn’t remember when those feelings turned into something more, but she had always feared she would never be able to make the first move.

Now, seeing Neptune’s adorable and slightly insecure smile, her cute poofy purple hair, her carefree look in general… wearing an adorable cosplay outfit, no less! How could she possibly resist her?

With her head still in the clouds, she jumps when Neptune coughs politely, turning to look at her directly. Noire’s pleased to see that that purple-haired idiot—her purple-haired idiot, maybe—is still blushing, too. Hanging out before, it was infuriating when Neptune’s carefree attitude just made it look like everything bounced right off her. With an amused smile, Noire notes that Neptune looks even more embarrassed than her right now.

“Earth to Noire? You okay over there?” Neptune grins as Noire nods weakly. “That wasn’t even a proper kiss yet, I didn’t know I’d have _that_ much of an effect on you.”

Though she tries to project confidence, Neptune feels anything but. It wasn’t even until the lead-up to their kiss that she became aware of how strong her feelings are for the cute tsundere; not exactly what she’d been expecting to happen when she set out this evening to make a fool out of herself with cosplay. She isn’t even sure whether Noire feels the same or is just embarrassed by her sudden unexpected cosplay and kiss.

“Yeah, I’m… okay. Do you want to, uh, maybe sit down with me somewhere less formal?” Noire asks. She’s well aware of Neptune’s discomfort with office environments, and figures the girl will probably feel less awkward somewhere cozier. Her new instincts also sense the uncertainty in Neptune’s posture, something she definitely wouldn’t have been aware of as little as two weeks ago. There’s probably a lot to talk about, if they can manage to without the awkwardness getting in the way.

Secretly, Noire also worries about Uni bursting in. She grimaces as she remembers still having to figure out how to break the news of her condition to her sister. Over the years, she’d slowly got it through Uni’s head that it was okay not to knock before entering, since they were both always working on similar projects anyway. This being an office, it wasn’t like there would ever be anything personal to walk in on.

Almost regretting that decision now, she continues, “I accept your apology, by the way. It would really be more comfortable to talk somewhere else, though.” She smirks as Neptune’s blush comes back, the girl’s mind clearly going places. Good to know that she’s not the only one thinking along these lines.

“S-Sure, that sounds good. You have a pretty big living room attached to the Basilicom, right? Something like that?” Neptune looks up at her, still insecure, but knows they’ll have to talk about what happened at some point. It’s probably best to wait until they’re in a more comfortable room anyway. “We won’t be interrupted there, right?”

A few seconds pass before Neptune realizes how that last part could be interpreted, and her face flushes a bright red. “I mean! N-Not anything dirty or anything like that. I wasn’t thinking anything like that! Just, to talk, of course. Nothing else.”

Noire bursts out laughing, unable to stop herself. “Pfffffff… who’s the tsundere now, huh?” Her ears perk up happily and she only giggles louder as Neptune pouts at her with a mopey look on her face. “It’s okay, Neptune, we’ll just… talk.”

* * *

Neptune looks around in wonder. This is definitely not what she expected. She sometimes let her imagination run wild imagining what Noire’s personal rooms would be like, but whatever she thought, this wasn’t it. Compared to the almost sterile environment of the rest of the building, the living room looks downright _cozy_. Instead of desks and grumpy-looking guards, there are a couple big couches and a _lot_ of stuffed animals. The color scheme for most of the room is a little too monochrome for Neptune’s liking, but with stuffed animals everywhere the room still has a very comfortable feel to it. The complete opposite of what she was expecting from someone like Noire.

There’s consoles too, of course. Lots of them, even. Taking a quick peek at all the cabinets stuffed with games, it looks like Noire has a collection to rival even hers. Most look like they’ve recently seen play, too. Neptune raises an eyebrow at that, she never got the impression that Noire had all that much free time to actually _play_ games; maybe there’ll even be an opportunity for some co-op games later.

Of course, that’s not exactly what Neptune’s here for right now. She gulps as she suddenly remembers, and turns around to see Noire smiling at her. The raven-haired girl looks amused at how she’s bouncing all over the room, inspecting every little detail. Neptune hadn’t even gotten to the large bookcase near one of the walls yet! She wonders whether Noire reads only serious non-fiction, or is actually more into sappy romance novels…

Noire giggles and elegantly sets herself down on the edge of one of the couches. “Feel free to sit down once you’re done going through all my belongings. It’s not like I’ve been trying to keep this room particularly presentable anyway.” She pats the spot next to her and grins as Neptune blushes, the redness almost a permanent fixture on the girl’s cheeks at this point; since when was she the one in control of these sorts of situations anyway?

Maybe she should’ve put more effort into cleaning up the place, but Noire wasn’t exactly expecting them to end up here today—or at all, really. Showing anything other than the almost pathologically organized side of her to people isn’t something she’s usually comfortable with, but Neptune is a bit of a special case. Noire grimaces as she remembers that her bedroom is rather messy too, but… well, they’ll deal with that when they get there; _if_ they get there.

Distracted as Neptune unceremoniously flomps down next to her, Noire decides to shelve those thoughts for later. “So,” she begins.

“So,” Neptune nods, looking down at her feet awkwardly. “Here we are, I guess.”

Noire sighs softly, noticing the difference in behavior from the usually annoyingly confident CPU, but can’t keep the smile out of her voice as she teases, “you didn’t seem as awkward when you practically face-planted against my lips.” For once, she leaves out the excuses; one of them has to push this if they’re ever going to get anywhere, and Neptune’s carefree attitude is clearly out of commission for some reason.

Neptune goes bright red. Immediately. “A-Ah, uh, I mean. Y-Yeah, I guess I gotta… confess something?” She looks away. “You’re not exactly making this easy, huh? It’s easier when you’re all stammering and awkward.” Looking back up at Noire with a small smile, “even I get flustered sometimes, you know?”

Grinning at her, Noire replies, “it’s not like you don’t deserve to be the one feeling awkward for once.”

Neptune swallows hard, unable to really disagree with that, and stammers, “W-Well… I love you. There. I said it. I don’t know if you feel the same or are just teasing me because of how crazy the earlier thing was, but…”

Noire stares at her blankly, disregarding the feeling of butterflies in her stomach from hearing the first part of that sentence.

Neptune actually doesn’t _know_.

That oblivious purple-haired idiot, the girl she’s been in love with for _years_ , actually isn’t even sure whether Noire likes her back.

As much as Noire wants to tease her more for keeping her waiting all this time, for being such a tease for most of it, and just because seeing Neptune stammer is such a satisfying sight, she just can’t get herself to make the poor girl feel even more insecure.

Better to make clear where they stand, then.

Neptune tumbles over backwards when Noire suddenly pushes her, letting out a surprised yelp as the back of her head hits the side of the couch. Looking up, Noire is already leaning down towards her, a hungry look in her eyes and her tail slowly moving back and forth, as if watching an especially tasty bird. Neptune gulps, a weird happy feeling starting to form in her stomach. She can only stare up blankly, unable to process what’s happening, as Noire grabs her wrists and pins them above her. “Noire! W-What are you…?”

“Of course I love you, you idiot. Now sit still and let me show you what a proper kiss feels like.”


	6. Surprising the Siblings

The Lastation CPU lets out a weary sigh, her ears flattened in a way Neptune is slowly beginning to associate with annoyance. Though they’re both feeling good thanks to the events of last night, it’s quickly becoming clear that some things never really change. Not that Noire necessarily wants them to, but part of her really hoped she’d stop being affected by Neptune’s antics as much now that they were going out.

With the both of them now relaxing on Noire’s queen-size bed, Noire stares at the ceiling while holding a purple ball of fluff against her chest. It sounds like the rest of Lastation is wide awake already, going by the noises outside. Noire never really noticed the city noises from her room. She’d always get up before everyone else, after all. This morning—almost afternoon, Noire suddenly realizes—is different.

“Did you _really_ have to run around the Basilicom naked after that shower? Poor Uni…” Noire smiles to herself—she certainly hadn’t minded at all. That’s no excuse for freaking out her little sister, though.

Neptune opens her mouth to respond, no doubt to make a witty comment about a certain girl enjoying the view, but stops herself as she notices a flicker of insecurity on her girlfriend’s face. Maybe something else is bothering her as well? “Ah, my bad Noire! I was just so excited to get back to your room again!” Giving Noire her best tsundere-melting smile, she hopes that whatever’s bothering her, it’s nothing too serious.

It couldn’t be something about their relationship, could it? Neptune’s pretty sure that whatever it is, last night should be proof enough of how much they wanted each other. Even someone like Noire shouldn’t need to worry after that. She blushes as she remembers the usually so easily flustered girl taking control, and she distractedly touches one of the spots on her neck, the bite marks easily visible. Neptune doesn’t have any conclusive proof, but she’s pretty sure Noire’s teeth are somehow sharper than they should be, too. And here she always thought that Noire would be the submissive one…

Looks like there’s all sorts of unexpected benefits to Noire’s recent changes.

Huh, looking down at herself and seeing similar scratch and bite marks practically everywhere, Neptune wonders whether Uni noticed when she ran back from the shower—it looks rather hard to miss. She hopes the poor girl just assumes she got into a fight with a big angry tiger or something, she’s not sure Uni would take the shattering of the pure image she has of Noire particularly well. Maybe that’s part of what’s bothering Noire?

Soft lips against her neck startle her out of her reverie, and she lets out a gasp as the girl in question holds her close, the fluff of Noire’s tail tickling one of her legs.

A contemplative look on Noire’s face, she whispers in Neptune’s ear, “Hmmm… somehow, I don’t feel like doing too much work today.” She nuzzles Neptune’s neck distractedly, lost in thought.

The purple-haired girl grins. “Noire, you sure you’re okay? This is pretty extreme for you. Do you need me to find you a doctor?”

Noire just rolls her eyes and pinches the skin of Neptune’s neck between her teeth, earning her another small whimper. Such enjoyable sounds.

Neptune can’t resist taking her teasing one step further, however. “They’d probably wonder how I got all these marks, though… I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to explain that you had your way with me…”

Satisfied to see her girlfriend’s cheeks burning bright red at that last implication, Neptune giggles and places a loving kiss on both. Actions that before would leave both girls blushing if they so much as thought about them seem so natural now. Neptune finds it hard to believe that it was only yesterday that she did a silly cosplay to make things up to Noire.

With the redness slowly fading from her cheeks after realizing Neptune had once more just been teasing, Noire loses herself in her thoughts again.

It’s so unlike her to get all caught up in the moment and stop worrying, but that’s exactly what happened last night. Another side-effect of what happened to her body? And is this a good or a bad thing? Neptune would probably tell her that sometimes you just have to roll with it instead of worrying about what it would be like if things were different, Noire realizes with a sigh. She doubts she’ll ever have the carefree girl’s ability to just go with the flow.

Yet she can’t deny that the more she’s growing used to these changes, the more she likes them. Noire’s finding that the tail helps her feel more balanced somehow, and having better hearing has saved her hide in the Basilicom with otherwise unexpected visitors more than a few times. There’s also the more subtle changes, like starting to rely more on a vague instinct rather than needing to analyze each and every situation. Noire’s unsure whether there’s any real benefit to those sharper teeth beyond getting Neptune to make all those lovely noises, but that’s good enough for her. It sure felt good to claim Neptune in such a way… 

Ah, she’s getting distracted again…

Noire frowns. The real challenge seems to be about how other people will respond to her condition. It’s not something she’s particularly confident about making public, but perhaps Neptune’s enthusiasm is a sign that it won’t be so bad—she’s not exactly a normal example, but it’ll have to do.

As for the rest of their friends, she’s sure Blanc and Vert won’t care in the slightest. They’ll make fun of and try to get her riled up, sure, but nothing else. Rom, Ram, and Nepgear, who knows, but they’re not the ones she’s worried about. Uni on the other hand… she’s has no idea how she’s supposed to come out about this to her—even more than to the Lastation population in general.

Running one of her hands down the smaller girl’s back, feeling her shiver, Noire suspects that one of these days she’ll just have to get it over with. Being stuck in the Lastation Basilicom forever won’t do, and transforming so much tires her out too much. It’s important to be able to transform in situations where she actually needs to, rather than just doing so to avoid any awkwardness.

At least she has Neptune on her side now.

Fantasizing a little, if everyone were to react well, maybe she could even get an HDD modification to keep her tail while transformed. Though getting more used to the changes to her regular body, her transformed form has become less and less comfortable, something she hopes to have time to think about fixing in the future.

Noire sits up. “I’m going to take a shower as well. And, Neptune?”

Neptune tilts her head, her eyes closed with a contented expression on her face.

“Can we… see what our sisters are up to, today? I’m a bit worried about Uni and haven’t really spoken to her lately.”

Opening her eyes, the purple-haired CPU looks directly up at Noire. “You still haven’t told her, huh? About the cat thing, I mean.” She knows that the reason Noire has been transforming so much lately is because it hides her new features, but didn’t know she’d tried to hide it from her younger sister as well. Not too surprising, considering how hard Noire tries to project the “perfect sister” image. Noire makes a noncommittal noise in response.

“Either way, of course we can! Anything for you, Noire!” Neptune chirps happily. She tries to pat Noire’s backside on the way to the shower, but misses and awkwardly tumbles over, her face hitting the bed.

* * *

Uni likes to think of herself as a dependable person when it comes to Lastation’s affairs. She may not feel she does as good a job as Noire, and probably never will, but that’s still better than practically everyone else. Though she’d never say it out loud, Uni’s unconvinced even the other CPUs could do better.

So then why did her sister stop relying on her?

It hurts. She doesn’t know what she could’ve done wrong—Lastation is still progressing as well as ever, she’d personally set a Gamindustri record for “number of monsters killed in a month” two days ago, and she’s completely up-to-date on all her paperwork. Yet Noire never asks her to help with any of her projects anymore.

“Sister probably just thinks I won’t do a good enough job and doesn’t want to tell me…”

Nepgear looks up from the circuit board she’s working on, determination showing in her eyes. Startled, Uni realizes that she’s not alone in this room. That’s right, she came over to Planeptune to help Nepgear with a new robot prototype. Dejectedly, Uni pretends to be fascinated by some of the robot’s wiring to the thrusters. Working on a project with Nepgear is something to do with all that free time, she supposes, seeing as Noire’s no longer keeping her busy. Beats being bored and feeling sorry for herself, as long as she can keep herself from thinking too much about it.

“You seem so down again today, Uni…” Nepgear begins, unsure how to continue. It probably has to do with Noire being more distant than usual again. It’s obvious to her that this has been weighing on her friend for a while now. She’s not sure how to bring it up, however. “Is Noire…?” Uni’s frown tells her all she needs to know. “I see.”

Seeing actual tears in Uni’s eyes as she looks up at her, Nepgear’s heart acts and she gently wraps an arm around her back. This is the kind of contact she usually avoids for fear of setting off the tsundere, but this time…

“I-I’m okay, really… It’s not like…”, the girl protests weakly, causing Nepgear to just hold her closer. “I know. It’s okay.” She feels Uni’s face press against her, actual sobs now coming out and her jacket starting to feel slightly wet near her shoulder. She wishes there were anything she could actually do, but instead just feels a vague desire to kick Noire in the shins.

Goodness, it’s not like her at all to have such violent impulses.

Anyone who makes Uni feels this bad, though…

Either way, it wouldn’t help. She wonders if she should ask Neptune to talk to Noire, but her sister isn’t exactly… the most subtle person, and Nepgear worries it would just backfire horribly. Not to mention that Uni just an hour ago got traumatized by a naked Neptune running through the Lastation Basilicom after taking a shower there. She still isn’t sure what the goodness happened there.

The sobs slow down, and Nepgear rubs her close friend’s back gently. A small hiccup from the Lastation CPU candidate almost has her smiling. Uni’s so cute. If only she could help more.

Both candidates look up as the door suddenly opens, revealing an awkward-looking Noire—Nepgear’s surprised that she’s wearing a beanie, that doesn’t seem like her style—and a slightly tense Neptune, who for some reason seems to be covered in bandaids from the neck down. The candidates quickly detach and Uni hides her face for a second, no doubt making sure to wipe away the tears.

Neptune tilts her head, noticing the angry frown Nepgear is giving Noire. Not exactly a good start to what they’re about to tell them.

The Lastation CPU coughs. The candidates and Neptune turn towards her, immediately causing her to blush. “S-So, ah…”

Trying to come to her rescue, Neptune continues, “There’s some interesting news that Noire is dying to tell everyone about!” Seeing her girlfriend’s glare, she shrugs. “What? It’s better to be enthusiastic about it than to talk like somebody died.”

Noire sighs. “Right. Anyway. The both of you may have wondered why I’ve been… acting differently lately.” She looks down at her feet, seemingly lacking the courage to continue.

Nepgear can’t hold it in, and stands up angrily. “You mean like how you’ve been completely ignoring Uni?” She takes a deep breath. “She has no idea what she’s done wrong, and for goodness sake you could at least _tell_ her if you’re disappointed in her or whatever else is going on! She’s a good person and doesn’t deserve this kind of-,” she only halts her barrage of words as Uni pulls at her sleeve, trying to hide her eyes that are once more beginning to leak tears. “N-Nepgear, it’s okay.”

Both Noire and Neptune stare at each other, baffled by the outburst from the usually soft-spoken Nepgear. The raven-haired CPU feels close to crying as well. It’s true that she’s probably harder on Uni than she needs to be, but she had no idea she’d been making her feel _this_ bad lately.

“It’s _not_ okay!” Nepgear continues, almost yelling now. She runs her fingers through Uni’s hair gently—partly to calm Uni, mostly to calm herself—while glaring intensely at both older sisters. “Even if Noire is going to be the more distant type, that’s no reason to ignore your own sister for-”

She stops mid-sentence as Neptune suddenly holds up a hand, smiling.

“There’s an easy solution to all this, really.”

Noire definitely doesn’t like that smirk.

Before she can do anything, Neptune reaches out and plucks the beanie right off her head.

Nepgear twitches angrily. She lets her sister get away with a lot, but if she thinks she can just make a joke out of everything to make it go away, then-…

Oh.

Oh goodness.

It takes Uni a second longer to realize. Once she does, she immediately yelps and jumps up, “S-Sister!? Your ears? I thought that was just-”

Noire puts her hand over her face to hide her embarrassment, and that distraction is all Neptune needs to quickly lift up Noire’s long dress somewhat, revealing her fluffy black tail as well. “Oops.” She giggles at Noire’s mortified expression. “Figured you could use some help coming out here.” Turning back to the younger sisters, she grins once more. “And yes, they’re real.”

Nepgear and Uni are still staring at the both of them in shock. Nepgear is the first to recover, and immediately rushes to apologize. “A-Ah. I-I’m sorry, miss Noire! It’s completely understandable to want to hide in that kind of situation, I’m so sorry!”

Wiping some of the redness of her face, Noire finally manages out a response. “Right. It’s okay. Thank you for taking care of Uni, at least.” She still feels rather shocked that she could get Nepgear of all people to explode at her like that, but at least it looks like Uni was in good hands while she was indisposed. “Uhm, Uni? Are you okay?”

The Lastation candidate can’t stop herself, and lets out the tears she’s been holding in all these weeks. Noire’s not mad at her? She didn’t do anything wrong? The only reason is that Noire was feeling embarrassed over what looks like some Gamindustri-esque accident? And those ears only made her sister look better as far as she was concerned, anyway.

She feels so _relieved._

Stupid, too—but the overwhelming feeling is definitely relief.

Uni finally manages a watery smile. “Yes, I’m okay now. Thank you, sister.” She hesitates for a second. “Uhm, if it’s not too much trouble…”

Noire smiles warmly, some of her instincts kicking in again, “Yes, Uni, we should grab some food and catch up, just the two of us.”

Beaming back at her, Uni takes her sister’s hand, both running off to one of Planeptune’s many diners, leaving both bemused Planeptune sisters behind with only so much as a quick wave and blown kiss.

Turning back to her robot, desperate for something to hide from her older sister’s knowing eyes, Nepgear pretends to be extremely interested in the same wiring Uni feigned interest in before.

Neptune coughs, grinning. “That was quite the outburst. I guess you’re rather fond of the younger tsundere sister, huh?”

Nepgear can only blush and look away.


	7. Viva Lastation

“That went pretty well, all things considered,” the Lastation CPU mumbles while looking off into the distance.

Making their way back to the Lastation Basilicom—no doubt Neptune already has all sorts of festivities in mind once they’re back home—the two CPUs finally find themselves with some time to talk privately again. The trees of a very familiar park surround them, and Neptune sagely decides not to mention what happened here last time.

Neptune had been bugging her girlfriend about visiting the other nations and letting the CPUs and candidates there in on the secret, seeing how their sisters had taken the news well. She had a point, of course, but that didn’t make Noire any less anxious about going through the whole process again the very same day. She tried to convince the purple-haired girl that one of those confessions a day really was plenty, but the stubborn girl wouldn’t hear any of her excuses.

It worked out in the end, so perhaps it was for the best. And she sure is glad to have it over with, at least for a while.

“I always knew our sisters would be cool with it, and wasn’t expecting anything bad from Blanc or Vert either. You really made a positive impression on Rom and Ram, too!” Neptune smiles as she remembers the younger Lowee sisters chasing the “kitty” around, trying their best to poke at her tail and ears. Not exactly appropriate, but that’s kids for you. And she supposes she’s not exactly in a position to judge kids for pulling at someone’s tail.

A hand hits the back of her head. “Ow!” She turns around to find Noire frowning at her—though it looks like she’s trying not to smile, too. Ah, good old tsunderes. “I know what you’re thinking about, you know. At least those girls didn’t pull as hard as a certain CPU…” Apparently Noire herself is just as aware of which park they’re currently in.

Neptune shamelessly grins back at her. “Hey, if I hadn’t been like that, we wouldn’t be where we are right now, you know?” She sure as hell isn’t going to feel guilty about it with how that worked out. “So now you only need to give a big speech to the Lastation people, right?”

The Lastation CPU just looks away and nods uncomfortably. Looks like there’s no end to that girl’s stubbornness.

* * *

How in the name of all the goddesses in this world did she let Neptune talk her into doing this?

Even transformed, the crowd in front of the podium is… intimidating, to say the least. Noire’s unsure she’s ever seen a crowd this big for any of her speeches, not to mention this had been set up so last-minute! It looks like everyone gets extra curious when they’re not entirely sure what a speech by their goddess will be about. She’ll have to remember that for next time a new console or game needs some hype to get going.

Purple Heart standing next to her in all her transformed glory probably helps, too. Noire’s glad both are starting out transformed before the speech. She herself for obvious reasons, and the Planeptune CPU because it makes it infinitely less likely that she’ll ruin the mood with a badly timed joke. Neptune looks so much more serious now, but that mischievous twinkle in her eyes is still there.

Noire takes a deep breath. The goddess next to her winks encouragingly. Looks like it’s time.

“People of Lastation,” Black Heart starts. Neptune admires how even her voice is—she would never admit it, but she’s not actually that great at public speaking, and prefers smaller gatherings if at all possible. Good thing her girlfriend’s always been comfortable in these sorts of situations. The contents of the speech are awkward enough to talk about as it is.

The Lastation CPU continues, “Certain events have transpired in the past two weeks, and it is our duty as CPUs to keep you informed on how this affects these lands.” The introduction goes on and on. Another thing Neptune dislikes about speeches is all of the padding and talking around the issue. If it were up to her, they’d just come out right there, say Noire’s grown some cat parts, and then she’d mention that she and Noire are in a relationship now too, and that would be that. And if anyone has a problem with that, then, well, Neptune didn’t particularly care about those people anyway.

But this being Lastation, not Planeptune, she has no choice but to go with whichever way Noire decides to do things, no matter how silly it seems to her.

With the introduction now out of the way—Noire tried keeping it shorter than she usually would, noticing Neptune’s impatience with the whole process—the Lastation CPU continues, “Many of you have probably seen our human forms before. Mine, however, has changed somewhat, due to accidental exposure to the radiation in the Lastation Dimensional Travel lab.” Gasps from the audience, but a small smile on her partner’s lips. Unsure how to continue, Noire confesses, “Ah… It would be easiest simply to demonstrate rather than explain.”

Both CPUs disengage their HDDs simultaneously. They’d practiced this beforehand, after both agreed that it would seem strange for Noire to be in her human form with Purple Heart still standing next to her. Noire argued that it could suggest a strange power dynamic they’d rather not encourage people to think about.

A bright flash of light, and both human forms slowly becoming visible as it fades. One purple-haired girl, and one black-haired with twin-tails, a pair of cat ears and a tail.

More shocked gasps from the audience, far more audible this time.

Then, cheering sounds as well. Initially from a few people here and there, but slowly increasing in intensity, until most of the audience claps and cheers for their CPU. Noire does her best to swallow her embarrassment and face them all, giving everyone time to process what happened.

“Bravo!”

“So brave, coming out about a change like that!”

“Our CPU looks even more adorable now!”

“Wait, for real? I’m not sure I can take a CPU with cat ears seriously…”

“Viva Lastation! Hurray for our goddess!”

Trying her hardest to stop herself from clasping her hands over her ears, Noire realizes she really should’ve thought to bring some hidden earplugs. The deafening sounds from the audience hurt her already more sensitive hearing.

Thankfully, her population looks to be almost entirely on board with how she looks now. Noire can’t stop herself from smiling widely, knowing that her worst fears didn’t come to pass. The people in Lastation don’t generally judge people about more superficial matters as long as it doesn’t affect them, but she was never sure whether this courtesy would extend to their goddess as well. She looks to the side, noticing Neptune giving her a very “told you so” look.

There’s something else in the purple-haired girl’s eyes, too…

Noire’s cheeks go red when she realizes.She’s not planning what Noire thinks she is, right?

A whisper confirms, “Would you mind letting me put in a few words too, Noire?” The sweetest smile on the girl’s face only causing Noire’s blush to intensify. Feeling she has no choice but to step aside, the Lastation CPU watches Neptune step over to the microphone. Noire closes her eyes, hoping against hope that the other CPU won’t say anything to embarrass her too much in front of her people.

Internally, Neptune doesn’t feel nearly as confident as she’s trying to project. Giving a speech is still not a great experience, but it’ll be worth it just this time. She coughs awkwardly. “So, I’m not as good at giving inspiring speeches as your goddess here, but there’s something important I need to say.” The audience slowly quiets down, waiting for her to continue. Good. One of Neptune’s worries had been whether it’s socially acceptable to start a speech like this in the first place—interrupting their goddess like that—or whether the audience wouldn’t even hear her out.

Noire resists the urge to look away or put her hands in front of her eyes. Making the situation more awkward isn’t going to help. How she wishes that Neptune would sometimes discuss ideas like this with her beforehand…

The purple-haired girl continues, “It turns out I’m in love with a certain someone, and don’t mind the entire world hearing about it.”

A few cheers can be heard from the audience as people are beginning to realize where this speech is going, and why it follows from the previous one. Some look excited, others confused. The majority of people still look like they haven’t quite figured it out yet. It’s highly unusual for a goddess in Gamindustri to talk about their personal feelings, and most are still in shock from Black Heart’s revelation before.

“Some of you already guessed it. I’m in a relationship with Black Heart—with _Noire_ —and I want all of our people to know about it.” Neptune grins, her own cheeks now reddening to the same shade as Noire’s. She did it. Feeling very embarrassed at the massive crowd looking up at her, she continues, “Ah, uh, that’s all. Thank you.”

The sudden explosion of cheers from the audience this time has both CPUs overwhelmed by the noise. There’s whistling too, making them feel even more embarrassed, if that were at all possible. Neptune’s pretty sure some of the whistles came from Vert just now, and she can see Blanc’s younger sisters and even the Lowee CPU herself waving at them excitedly.

Noticing their sisters in the crowd cheering her on—no doubt they’re partly responsible for getting the crowd this enthusiastic—brings a smile to Noire’s face. She doesn’t even care that her tail is showing and happily swishing left and right. Or that both her and Neptune’s cheeks are bright red again, completely embarrassed by this outpouring of support. Not even the worry about increased public scrutiny in the future can upset her right now.

Living like this, with Neptune at her side, and the support of Gamindustri, is going to be alright.


	8. Epilogue

Staring at the girl she’s now married to sitting next to her, Noire lets out a badly suppressed giggle.

“Planestation”, seriously? That has to be the worst possible name anyone’s ever thought of, though she admits to herself that Lastune, Lasteptune, Lastatune—none of those are any good either. Neptune seems to genuinely think it’s an okay name, but even she suggested it in a way that made clear she was already aware Noire wasn’t going to like it one bit. In the end they decided to just keep the names the same, as practically it didn’t matter all that much anyway. Trying to settle on one combination could only lead to fights, really.

Come to think of it, as much as Histoire had been harping on about it being tradition to combine the names of their nations in this way, Noire has never actually heard of CPUs getting married before. Is it possible that Histoire herself is just making these things up?

“Hey! It’s not _that_ bad a name. Lots better than ‘Lasteplatunestation’ or whatever it was you came up with at some point!” Neptune pouts at her, but it’s clear she doesn’t mind. She’s never been one to care too much about the formal things like this, thankfully. In the past that always seemed like a source of annoyance, but now Noire’s sure that they wouldn’t have been able to get along at all if Neptune had been as much of a workaholic as her—they balanced each other out like that, sappy though that sounds.

Oh, who cares. They got married. She isn’t going to worry about seeming a little sentimental or sappy after all that.

Noire sips her drink, realizing too late there’s a wicked grin on Neptune’s face.

“So, have you thought about when we should have kids yet?”

Annnnnd there goes the tea. Damn. That idiot can still catch her off guard like that, you’d think she would’ve learned by now not to drink any liquids with an undistracted Neptune around.

Honestly, Noire’s surprised how long Neptune kept up the seriousness in the first place. Since at least a week before the wedding, Neptune had been making far too few bad jokes. It’s almost as if she was as nervous about the whole thing as Noire. She’d slowly become more playful again after the end of the ceremony a couple days ago, true, but still seemed more muted to Noire than usual.

Well, at least until that strange question just now.

“Can we even have kids?” Noire distractedly plays with her tail, thankful that not too much tea got spilled. “I mean, I’m not sure how much you know about these things, but we’re both girls,” deflecting the question, Noire eyes her purple-haired wife warily. This seems like too significant a thing to be a joke entirely, but you can never know with Neptune. For now she’d rather redirect the question back to her.

“Ah, I _may_ have had a little conversation with Histoire about this before the wedding—don’t ask, it was embarrassing,” Neptune answers, looking away from her. Noire snickers, easily imagining just how awkward that must’ve been for the both of them. She doubts she would’ve been able to ask Histoire something like that herself, and that’s after she already had to talk to her about the whole cat thing. Noire’s ears raise attentively, and she scoots a little closer to her wife. Neptune _does_ seem quite serious, now.

Neptune continues, “She even mentioned that your physical changes shouldn’t be a problem.” Blushing, the Planeptune CPU tries not to move away from the couch as Noire’s tail slowly wraps around her leg. Noire’s so much more affectionate now, and even more comfortable showing it than her. “It’s… we don’t need to decide now, of course. Just that Histoire mentioned it’s not impossible, and just relies on accumulating a lot of shares and some fancy process I don’t understand the details of, though the general idea is… pretty obvious.”

Noire smirks at that. It’s always shares, isn’t it?

“Either way,” Neptune scoots closer again, scratching behind one of Noire’s ears as she regains a bit of her usual confidence, a small smile appearing on her lips, “we should probably take our time figuring this out. Wouldn’t want to get into a fight because one of us decides a kid really needs to have a name like ‘Planestatunesion’ or whatever it was.”

As if to show she’s not going to be shown up by a cat, Neptune moves her head closer to Noire’s, kissing her wife’s cheek. She trails her lips up until she reaches the same ear she’s scratching, and nibbles on it just a bit. The soft whimpers coming from Noire are so worth it, and most of all it helps defuse some of the awkwardness Neptune’s feeling over this conversation.

Trying to regain control of her mouth and blushing cheeks, Noire responds by wrapping her arms around her cute wife. “I suppose you’re right. I can’t say I mind that you’re thinking about it though.” She kisses the smaller girl’s neck, then grins—baring those small fangs of hers—and looks Neptune in the eyes, “Does this mean that you’re going to work a lot harder and need my help to increase those shares then, Neptune?”

Giggling, Neptune kisses back happily, and replies in the most innocent tone she can muster, “I’d rather practice the other part of that process.”

That’s enough to spark the black-haired girl’s instincts, and Neptune feels herself being pushed backwards against the couch again, Noire’s tail still touching her leg. “That sounds good, too.” Noire bites her lover’s lower lip a little more aggressively, and Neptune feels her smirking confidently against her.

All thoughts of future plans go out the window, both girls now relying on instinct—one more animalistic than the other—as they lose themselves in each other.


End file.
